Manipulation of any person or group of persons fear (the emotion of terror, hence TERRORism) in order to gain obedience/forceful agreement, or accomplish a certian objective.

The United States media constantly throws propaganda of how everyone in the middle east is evil and embeds the word 'terrorist' into everyone's minds from the day they are born as 'evil'. Then they use it to scare us into allowing them to bomb millions of innocent lives to ashes in the Middle East, then take over for whatever purpose.

BUT WAIT! I think I've hit something here:

...embeds the word 'terrorist' into children's minds as 'evil'. Then they use it to scare us into allowing them to...

Hmm, let's break that down into something simpler:

...use fear to manipulate the people into allowing them to...

Oh my gosh! Wouldn't that make the United States the terrorists!? How ironic!

Terrorism is unlawful use of violence or the threat of violence to attain goals that are religious, political, ideological, economic, etc. in nature to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of said goals.

One of the more obvious recent examples of this are the 9-11 atrocities. Another is the US-Contra war on Nicaragua. After the ICJ condemned the US for the "unlawful use of force", US Southern Command gave the contras (mostly former members of the Somoza regime) the first official orders to attack what they called "soft targets" (read undefended civilian targets). That's a textbook example of international terrorism. Even before the ICJ ruling, the contras were attacking civilians. The Contras were fighting to reverse the popular sandinista revolution. This is an example of the unlawful use of violence to attain goals that are political and ideological. Saddam Hussein's invasion is an example of international terrorism. CLinton's bombing of a Sudanese pharmaceutical plant is another. And we can go down the list. The point is that the US govt, and most other govts around the world use terror to get what they want. Clearly, overwhelmingly, terrorism is the weapon of the strong.

2) Exact revenge on an opponent that cannot be harmed via traditional means of warfare due to power imbalances

Terrorism does not necessarily result in the loss of human life, but often does.

The history of political violence that can be described as "terrorism" can be tracked as both a media phenomenon and the use of a potent tool of manipulation by parties of widely varying motiviation, such as religious extremism, national liberation, and attempts to foment coups. Some acts of terrorism are committed by what are termed 'hate groups' against their target of choice.

Examples of terrorism include bombings in Ireland and Israel, the 2001 attacks on New York City and Washington DC, and the 1946 bombing of the King David hotel by Jewish Extremists attempting to advance creation of the Israeli state by ousting British influence.

"All attempts to destroy democracy by terrorism will fail. It must be business as usual." - Margaret Thatcher